In fulfilling of the promise Prince George’s County Executive, Ms. Angela Alsobrooks made to the African community during her campaign, on July 25, 2019 inaugurated the African Diaspora Advisory Board, this colorful ceremony was graced with the recognition for members of the Board by the Office of the County Executive.

During the ceremony, Mr. Elvis Dennah from Liberia, who is the first-ever African Diaspora Liaison recognized the efforts the administration has made in the area of inclusion and appointing African immigrants in office.

The members of the board, who are all residents of the county and came from different parts of Africa were C. Vincent Iweanoge of Nigeria (Chairman); Dr. Anu Esuola’ also from Nigeria (Vice-Chairman); Pastor Kwabena (Kobby) Sarpong from Ghana (member); Dr. Joy Davis from Nigeria (member), Kevin Nyona from Kenya (member), Dr. Sylvia Dasi from Cameroon (member), Dr. Angela Essamuah from Uganda (member) and Victor Ogbonna from Nigeria (member).

It will be recalled that the African community was among those, who vigorously supported the candidacy of the county’s former Attorney General during the electioneering campaign.

“The African community”, according to Mr. Iweanoge, “has always believed in the ability of Ms. Alsobrooks, who has now made history as the first woman ever to be elected to the position of Prince George’s County Executive”, Mr. Iweanoge told reporters

Speaking further at the recognition ceremony, Iweanoge, who is the Chairman of the Board, highlighted the potentials of the Africans in the county, who he said own between 33-40% of the small businesses, mostly in the areas of healthcare and education, in Prince George’s County, which is believed to be the richest black county in the United States with an annual budget of about $5 billion and a population close to a million with the median household income of $110,133.

In her remark during the ceremony, Ms. Alsobrooks recalled how she met Iweanoge and his friends, Dr. Jude and Dr./Mrs. Joy Davis in 2015, during that interaction with these individuals she promised to establish this board, once in office, and further acknowledged the potentials and the contributions made by the African community. Ms. Alsobrooks also commended the efforts of the newly-inaugurated board.

Ms. Alsobrooks after the inauguration in her own words said, “They are already working hard to keep us informed of important issues in our African Diaspora community, as well as advising our office on a number of areas.”

(Visited 101 times, 1 visits today)

Comments

Joel Cholo Brooks is a Liberian journalist who previously worked for several international news outlets including the BBC African Service. He is the CEO of the Global News Network which publishes two local weeklies, The Star and The GNN-Liberia Newspapers. He is a member of the Press Union Of Liberia (PUL) since 1986, and several other international organizations of journalists, and is currently contributing to the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation as Liberia Correspondent.